Drivers being reminded of Scott's Law the hard way

Friday

The driver of the tan Lexus sport utility vehicle never saw it coming.

He was incredulous when the Illinois State Police trooper who pulled him over Wednesday afternoon walked up to the window and explained the infraction.

"So you're telling me I had to move over and change lanes when I went by?"

"Yes, sir," Trooper Rick Price replied.

The man's wife, sitting in the passenger seat, was ticked.

"All the people speeding out here and you're writing him for this?"

Yes, Price replied again, then returned to his patrol car to check the man's license and write a ticket for violating Scott's Law, now referred to as the "move-over law."

Moments earlier the driver had failed to move out of the right lane as he passed another trooper who was out on a traffic stop. Price, pulled off on the shoulder behind the other trooper, saw it happen.

"He's really not going to like the news when I tell him he has to appear in court," Price said as he typed information from the Clayton, Mo., man's driver's license into the patrol car's laptop computer.

Indeed, the driver was mad when Price returned to the Lexus to present him with the ticket. His wife was angrier, though, shaking her head in disbelief.

"This is the most distasteful experience I've ever had with law enforcement," she shot back at Price. And with that, the SUV pulled back onto Interstate 55 for points north.

Price has seen the reaction before.

"I probably get more arguments with this violation than with anything else," he said.

Scott's law, signed into law in August 2001, requires motorists to use extra caution around emergency vehicles. When approaching a police car, firetruck, tow truck, roadwork truck or any other emergency vehicle with flashing warning lights, drivers must change lanes and slow down.

There is some discretion involved on the part of police. In some cases, drivers simply cannot change lanes because of clogged traffic. In those cases, they must at least slow down. It's up to the officers to decide if they should issue a citation.

The law was enacted after Scott Gillen, a Chicago firefighter, was struck and killed by a drunken driver Dec. 23, 2000, while assisting at an accident site on the Dan Ryan Expressway.

A veteran law enforcement officer, Price knows what it's like to stand on the shoulder of a highway with cars, semitrucks, buses, recreational vehicles and large trucks whizzing by inches away.

"They come close. I've been out there before and they hug that white line. The wind shakes you," he said.

Penalties for violating the law include a fine of not more than $10,000. In addition, if the violation happens while a person is driving under the influence, his or her driver's license can be suspended for anywhere between 90 days and two years, depending on whether property was damaged or someone was injured or killed.

Price said he believes word of the law is getting out, though there still are numerous violations.

Price said he went to court on one of the tickets recently, and the judge found the accused driver guilty after he admitted he slowed down but didn't change lanes - even though there were no vehicles preventing him from doing so.

After the law went into effect, state police had an "education period" during which they mostly issued warnings to violators. That period is over, and the troopers consistently write tickets for Scott's Law violations, Price said.